Our View: Obama's agenda and our advice

FOR some presidents, the start of a second term in the White House could bring an emotional letdown. They've already proven themselves up to the biggest job in the world. Their initial mandate has been fulfilled. Their final campaign has been won. Sheer fatigue is the new opponent. A lame duck's feathers are sprouting.

But Barack Obama had better not feel any such letdown as he begins his second term, taking the official oath of office today and speaking to the nation in the public inaugural ceremony Monday on the U.S. Capitol steps.

Obama's first term left more to prove, more to do. Whether it's a little more or a lot more depends on whether the observer is a Democrat, wanting Obama to achieve more of the liberal agenda, or a Republican, believing he has failed the country. It is not his fault alone that the government's partisan rift remains wide and the economy remains sluggish, but there is much the president can do differently to improve things in the next four years.

A big one is his approach to the job.

Obama must be the bipartisan leader he sounded like in 2008 - in fact, back in 2004 when he addressed the Democratic convention about creating a "purple" America, neither Democratic blue nor Republican red.

He must acknowledge, without more of his all-too-evident frustration, that the nation elected a divided government, and he must work better with Congress. Though it's too much to expect Obama to change this aspect of his personality, he might try to at least fake a little personal warmth in his dealings with the GOP-controlled House of Representatives. Maybe he should look at the example of Gov. Jerry Brown, who with less political incentive to embrace fiscal discipline in a Democratic-dominated state has got California Republicans lauding his budget.

As far as specific issues are concerned, two cry out for a better effort from Obama.

The first is one just mentioned: Improving the government's fiscal health. Tax increases do little to address the budget deficit and national debt. Spending is the real problem, and Obama has to spell out his strategy for cutting it.

The second, of great interest to Southern Californians, is immigration reform. Republican leaders should be more receptive since the party's rejection by the growing Latino electorate in November. But the Obama administration must seize the opportunity and take the lead, pushing a policy that will limit illegal immigration but also recognize industries' need for migrant labor and deal fairly with families with both legal and illegal immigrants.

As last year's mass shootings roused the administration to action on gun reform, the results of the November election should spur action on immigration - if not now, when?

While Obama sets his top priorities for Act II, he should remove the California high-speed rail project from his list. Last week, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told Congress the administration still stands ready to help pay for a bullet train linking the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas. But Californians have cooled on the plan, whose projected cost has doubled to $68 billion since voters approved initial funding. Neither the state nor federal government can afford this. Obama should stand up to California Democratic leaders and pull the plug.

How about backing a less Earth-bound futuristic vision? The administration should renew the nation's commitment to space exploration. NASA could put mankind on Mars; a bullet train would only take us to Oakland.

Some other issues that demand more action: Tax reform. Climate change. Balancing the need for regulation with the freedom for businesses to grow. Continuing the unfinished task of improving the U.S. health-care system. Ensuring the United States' moral high ground in world affairs.

All of these efforts will demand cooperation between a more experienced President Obama and congressional leaders, and that will require better performances from both sides.

Obama must be mindful that he is the first president in 180 years who was re-elected with a lower percentage of the popular vote than he received the first time around. His first term was good enough for him to defeat Mitt Romney last November, but it was not good enough to win him a glowing legacy.

Obama has significant achievements under his belt: health-care reform (though the plan was passed solely by Democrats), the end of the Iraq War and the killing of Osama bin Laden. But the nation wants to see that these will not remain the high points of the administration of the first black president.

He has much more to do. Fortunately for him, he has four more years to do it and a nation eager for results.

Obama can start by going back to the beginning when his energy was highest, by working harder to break down the barriers between him and Congress, and by showing he knows he can't fix America's problems alone.